"We took them to the cemetery's mosque. We prayed and we buried them in the family grave," said the director of the Red Crescent Society in the Tikrit region, Thawrah Abed Bakr.

"Everything was finished by 1230 (0830 GMT). I had been told to do it secretly by the family and the tribe."

The three graves are draped with Iraqi flags and local tribesmen have spoken about erecting a shrine there, says the BBC's Caroline Hawley at the site.

She says tiny groups of Saddam Hussein loyalists came to pray at the graves throughout the day.

For most Iraqis the funeral will be a relief - final proof that two hated members of Saddam Hussein's family are gone for good, our correspondent says.

After Uday and Qusay were killed, the US released images of the bloodied corpses, and later on photographs of their restored bodies to prove to sceptical Iraqis the pair were really dead.

The BBC's Matthew Price in Baghdad says there had been concern over what to do with the corpses, with coalition forces fearing their graves could become a focus for supporters - or enemies - of Saddam Hussein.

Tikrit remains a stronghold for supporters of the former dictator.

On Friday night, US troops arrested a man suspected of organising attacks on US troops, in a raid on a house in the town.

Since US President George W Bush declared major hostilities over on 1 May, 53 US troops have been killed by enemy fire.